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Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson (50) stops a shot on goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game as New York Rangers\' Brad Richards (19) looks on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Author: The Hockey News

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NEW YORK, N.Y. - The New York Rangers said they weren't going to make excuses following their season-opening, seven-game road trip that spanned three countries.

Once they finally got back to New York, the Rangers were already searching for answers why they went flat in the final 40 minutes of the home opener after they played one of the best periods of the young season.

Joffrey Lupul and Clarke MacArthur scored 4:22 apart in the third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs broke open a tie game and spoiled the Rangers' long-awaited return to renovated Madison Square Garden with a 4-2 victory on Thursday night.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead and fired a season-best 16 shots in the first period, but generated little the rest of the way.

"You could tell the momentum shifted," struggling forward Brad Richards said. "They started turning pucks over on us, we didn't get the zone time and the pressure like we did in the first, but we were still going into the third in a 1-1 game.

"We were very confident, it just didn't happen."

Lupul scored off a rebound in a scrum in front of Henrik Lundqvist to make it 2-1 with his fifth of the season, and MacArthur made it a two-goal edge with his first—firing a shot from the left circle during a 2-on-1 break that eluded Lundqvist's leg at 6:33.

Matthew Lombardi scored his first in the second period, and Mike Brown made it 4-1 in the third.

Dan Girardi scored in the first, and Michael Del Zotto got it to 4-2 with 4:34 remaining for the Rangers, who went 3-2-2 on a season-starting road trip because of the work being done at their home rink. New York's home opener, the last in the NHL, kicked off a six-game homestand.

"We had to fight through the first period," Gustavsson said. "They came out strong. The second and third periods were probably the best we've played so far."

While the renovations created a distinct new look at MSG, the crowd was noticeably quiet throughout, even during pre-game introductions. One banner hung from the upper level in support of exiled forward Sean Avery, who has been sent to Hartford of the AHL. Chants of "We want Avery" broke out in the third period once the outcome was no longer in doubt.

New York appeared to build on its early lead, but twice had goals waved off after captain Ryan Callahan ran into Gustavsson.

As disappointed as the Rangers were to lose the potential goals, they agreed with both calls.

"It's tough," Callahan said. "You see the two pucks go in the back of the net, you want them to be in, especially when we're struggling scoring. (The referee) thought I bumped him. I made some contact with him."

The Rangers have mustered only 16 goals in eight games, and the lack of quick chemistry between Richards—New York's prized free-agent acquisition—and top scorer Marian Gaborik has been a big reason why. Gaborik assisted on Girardi's goal to give him five points this season. Richards also has five.

"It would be great if we came in here and clicked perfectly, but realistically we have some work to do," Richards said. "We've got to get to know each other on the ice. We're both used to having the puck, and that's a work in progress for sure."

New York was already in front on Girardi's goal 6:23 in when Callahan appeared to double the advantage at 9:45 when he deflected a shot by Del Zotto. The goal was immediately waved off.

With 7:27 left, Callahan crashed the net in pursuit of a rebound. The puck bounced in front, and Brandon Dubinsky's return shot was stopped. Callahan knocked over Gustavsson, and the puck got past the goalie.

"Definitely I got pushed, so I didn't get a chance to save it," Gustavsson said. "Every time a goal goes by you are rattled but you just try to forget about it."

In between the two no-goals, Lundqvist protected the slim advantage when he made a right pad save to turn away Phil Kessel, set up by new centreman Tim Connolly. Kessel, the NHL leader so far in goals and points, didn't get everything on the shot that was stopped by Lundqvist as he slid to his right across the crease.

Toronto shook off its shots disadvantage in the first and outshot the Rangers 16-7 in the second.

The Leafs needed just 1:20 to get the tying goal from Lombardi on a drive Lundqvist would likely want back. Lombardi's shot from the left circle squeezed in under Lundqvist's blocker.

"I don't really have an explanation for a couple of goals, why I was surprised," Lundqvist said. "I was already thinking about the next play and being ready for that. I was too far ahead of myself. I have to be better."

NOTES: Rangers D Michael Sauer returned after missing five games (shoulder). ... Connolly (upper body) made his season debut, centring Toronto's top line between Kessel and Lupul. ... The Maple Leafs recalled G Ben Scrivens from Toronto to back up Gustavsson while James Reimer recovers from a whiplash injury sustained Saturday.

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Power Rankings: Red-hot Blue Jackets still fighting for respect

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Power Rankings: Red-hot Blue Jackets still fighting for respect

The Blue Jackets have been the most pleasant surprise in the NHL this season, but it's still going to take convincing for the hockey world to believe they're for real.

We’ll totally understand if you’re having just a little trouble getting on board with the 2016-17 version of the Columbus Blue Jackets. After all, you’ve probably been burned before.

Their fan base certainly seems to be wary. Despite the fact the Blue Jackets are the surprise of the NHL and have emerged as one of the most dynamic and exciting teams in the league, they drawn fewer than 12,000 in three of their past four home games. Even their coach thinks the team has work to do to earn their fans’ trust. “I want our team to have a chip on their shoulder,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella told Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch recently. “I think they should. We’re trying to get respect in the league. Quite honestly, we should be disrespected because of where we’ve been.”

That won’t last long if the Blue Jackets keep this up. The league’s best power play continues to fuel one of the league’s hottest teams and has landed them at the top of thn.com’s weekly Power Rankings for the second time this season. Last week’s rankings in parentheses:

CREAM OF THE CROP

1. Columbus Blue Jackets (8)

2. Philadelphia Flyers (15)

3. Pittsburgh Penguins (6)

4. St. Louis Blues (2)

5. Chicago Blackhawks (5)

6. Montreal Canadiens (7)

7. New York Rangers (4)

8. San Jose Sharks (11)

9. Boston Bruins (20)

10. Calgary Flames (27)

Is there a bigger bargain or a shrewder off-season signing than Sam Gagner?...Steve Mason went from one of the worst goalies in the NHL early in the season to one of the best of late. His save percentage in his first 16 games was .892, but has improved to .947 in his past five… If Marc-Andre Fleury wants to get traded, he’s not doing himself any favor with his play lately…The Blues completed a 4-0-1 home stand with the game going into overtime…With Jonathan Toews and Corey Crawford already out, the Blackhawks lost defenseman Brent Seabrook in their 4-0 win over Arizona Tuesday night…How will the Canadiens and the surprising Alexander Radulov respond to the injury to Alex Galchenyuk?...The injury-ravaged Rangers saw Rick Nash go down with a groin injury and Matt Puempel to a concussion in their 4-2 loss to the Islanders Tuesday night…Joe Thornton passed Brendan Shanahan for 25th all-time on the NHL’s scoring list with an assist in a 2-1 win over Montreal last week…Anyone who predicted David Pastrnak would be in Rocket Richard Trophy contention a third of the way into the season is looking very bright at the moment…The Flames were already one of the hottest teams in the NHL without Johnny Gaudreau, then won their first two with him back in the lineup.

THE MUSHY MIDDLE

11. Washington Capitals (11)

12. Edmonton Oilers (14)

13. Ottawa Senators (12)

14. Los Angeles Kings (1)

15. New Jersey Devils (23)

16. Detroit Red Wings (16)

17. Nashville Predators (3)

18. Minnesota Wild (19)

19. Anaheim Ducks (10)

20. Winnipeg Jets (17)

Capitals coach Barry Trotz had some pointed words to Alex Ovechkin about his penchant for taking minor penalties of late. No cracks in the foundation, though. Just a frank discussion…The Oilers game Tuesday night against Buffalo was touted as Connor McDavid vs. Jack Eichel, the kind of narrative the Oilers have learned to accept. “Every night it’s Connor vs. Somebody,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan…Goalie Craig Anderson started in the Senators’ 8-5 loss to Pittsburgh Monday night, but did not travel with the team for a three-game California trip to be with his wife as she undergoes treatment for throat cancer…The usually stingy Kings have given up 11 goals in their past three games. “That’s too many goals,” said Kings coach Darryl Sutter…Devils winger Taylor Hall on the aftermath of his clean, but devastating, hit on Philip Larsen Tuesday night: “I feel terrible.” Not to be trite, but Hall should not be feeling terrible about the way he has played since returning from a knee injury. He has five points in his past two games…Goalie Jimmy Howard will be back in uniform for the Red Wings when they host Columbus Friday night, but will have a difficult time pushing Petr Mrazek out of the crease…After missing four games with an upper-body injury, James Neal scored a goal in a 4-3 Predators’ win over Colorado Tuesday night…Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, whose career was revived when he came to Minnesota, will make his 300th career start tonight in Toronto…Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle could not pull Jonathan Bernier during his team’s 8-3 loss to Calgary because backup John Gibson was battling a stomach virus…Over the past 30 years, only Teemu Selanne and Alex Ovechkin have scored goals at a better pace than Patrik Laine of the Jets is scoring them now.

VYING FOR THE PARTICIPATION BADGE

21. New York Islanders (26)

22. Tampa Bay Lightning (22)

23. Carolina Hurricanes (25)

24. Buffalo Sabres (29)

25. Florida Panthers (24)

26. Vancouver Canucks (18)

27. Toronto Maple Leafs (13)

28. Dallas Stars (28)

29. Arizona Coyotes (21)

30. Colorado Avalanche (30)

With points in each of their past five games, four of them wins, the Islanders are easily on their most successful string of the season…The Lightning could get Ryan Callahan, Jason Garrison and Jonathan Drouin back for their home game against Vancouver Thursday night…Jordan Staal, sidelined for the past four games with a concussion, likely won’t be available to the Hurricanes for a three-game road trip through California that begins tonight…After playing almost 500 games in the minors, defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer made his NHL debut in the Sabres’ 3-2 overtime win over Washington Tuesday night… Panthers have gone to overtime in four of their five games GM Tom Rowe has been behind the bench. They’ve won one in overtime, lost two in OT and one in a shootout…Philip Larsen, who was taken off the ice on a stretcher after a hit from Taylor Hall Tuesday night, was released from hospital in New Jersey Wednesday morning and was cleared to return to Vancouver while the Canucks continue on a five-game road trip…After waiving Jhonas Enroth, the Maple Leafs search for a backup goalie continues. They signed Karri Ramo to a professional tryout contract and assigned him to their farm team. That should cure everything…The Coyotes have been outscored 14-6 and have averaged 41 shots against per game in an 0-3-1 month of December…All nine of Matt Duchene’s goals this season have come on the road. The Avs could use that kind of production at the Pepsi Center, where they’re 4-8-1 this season and recently went 0-4-1 on a five-game homestand.

Montreal can't panic over injuries to Galchenyuk and Desharnais

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Montreal can't panic over injuries to Galchenyuk and Desharnais

While the loss of the two centers is a crushing blow in the short-term, this team is positioned too well to lose assets in a hasty trade scenario

The Montreal Canadiens will be without top center Alex Galchenyuk and fellow pivot David Desharnais for at least six weeks, perhaps even eight. Both players sustained knee injuries in recent games and the news is obviously not good. But GM Marc Bergevin would make it even worse by jumping into a hasty trade.

True, the Habs now look skeletal down the middle (though Tomas Plekanec isn't a horrible choice for the top line and Andrew Shaw can help out), but this is a short-term problem. Montreal is the top team in the Eastern Conference right now and with netminder Carey Price, they can win more than a few games in the next month or so just on the strength of his gifted play. And the Shea Weber-led defense has been better than expected, so even if the Habs are super-boring and conservative until February, they'll get some results.

Will Montreal still be on top by then? Maybe not, but as long as they don't lose like, 20 games in a row, they'll still be in a playoff position with enough runway left to climb back up the rungs. And as the Los Angeles Kings have proven twice already, you can win the Stanley Cup as long as you get into the playoffs, particularly if your goalie is one of the best on the planet (caveat: being a great possession team helps and the Canadiens are only middling).

But a trade is not the way to go, particularly since the Canadiens aren't deep to begin with. They don't have many attractive pro prospects right now – unless they can drum up interest in a Charles Hudon or Nikita Scherbak – and their best recent draft pick is defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who should be seen as untouchable. I mean, if Pittsburgh offers up Evgeni Malkin for the 2016 first-rounder and a couple other goodies, you make that trade – but I don't think that's going to happen.

If anything, Montreal needs to build their pipeline up, instead of taking assets away from it. The Canadiens ranked just 23rd in the NHL in our most recent Future Watch edition and Sergachev was the only pick they made in the first two rounds this summer. They do have two second-rounders for 2017 (their own and Washington's selection), but again: they need those.

Galchenyuk and Desharnais will be back and in all likelihood, the Canadiens will still be in a playoff position. The short-term may seem a little bleak, but the price of a quick patch isn't worth the long-term loss. Patience is a virtue here.

John Tavares scores with a move no one had ever done before

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John Tavares scores with a move no one had ever done before

The New York Islanders captain undressed Jay Bouwmeester in the most unusual of ways, but the important thing is he kept the puck. Then he buried it

John Tavares: good at hockey.

The New York Islanders captain pulled off an absolutely stunning series of moves last night, culminating in a laser-shot goal against St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen. But let's get back to his humbling of Olympic gold medallist Jay Bouwmeester, because that's where the real magic happened.

Witness, as Tavares puts his stick behind his back and grabs it with his other hand while still skating and fending off Bouwmeester. Then, since he is a patient boy, Tavares waits and waits and waits before firing one top corner on Allen:

As the soccer folks would say, lovely. New York would go on to beat the Blues 3-2, with Anders Lee scoring the other two goals for the Isles. After struggling to begin the season, New York is now 6-2-2 in its past 10 games. Tavares leads the squad with 21 points through 26 contests.

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Fans want to see NHL players play at the Olympics, the players want to play in the tournament, but the NHL’s Board of Governors still needs some convincing.

If the NHL is going to send players to the Olympics, the NHL’s Board of Governors are going to need some convincing and they’re going to need it in rather short order.

It was reported around the World Cup of Hockey that the NHL had a mid-January deadline to decide on Olympic participation for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. And at the first day of Board of Governors meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., little more than a month from that deadline, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman didn’t make it sound as though the situation is all that positive in terms of the world’s best players heading to the tournament.

One of the sticking points for the Board of Governors, according to Bettman, was the impact the Olympics have on the NHL product.

"There are a lot of owners, clubs, over the years that have been very concerned about what Olympic participation does to the season, what it does to the players in terms of injuries, not just to those that go but having a compressed schedule can make the players more tired, more wear and tear, and the potential for injury is greater,” Bettman said, according to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen.

Even still, Bettman approached the IIHF’s assurance of covering the costs with skepticism and a warning that it doesn’t mean Olympic participation is green lit.

"We have been very clear to Rene Fasel at the IIHF and to Don Fehr at the [NHL] Players' Association that if the expenses aren't being covered, the League isn't paying for them and there really is nothing to talk about," Bettman said, according to Rosen. "Just because somebody may decide to pay for them, and to this point we don't actually know where that stands, that doesn't mean that it's a go.”

Bettman added that he wasn’t sure there was “even the money to cover what's been covered in the last Olympics,” regardless of what the IIHF would say. And even if everything fell in line for an Olympic participation proposal in the coming days, weeks or month, Bettman said it will still need the approval of the Board of Governors in order for the players to be sent to South Korea for the tournament.

"If there is something at some point to take to the Board, it will need an affirmative vote of the Board of Governors," Bettman said, according to Rosen. "I think it's fair to say that there is some strong negative sentiment in the room, but nothing was decided today.”